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Investing.com - JPMorgan maintained its Overweight rating and $232.00 price target on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock, currently trading at $193.18, as investors await a key legal decision. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains excellent financial health with a "GREAT" overall score, while 27 analysts have recently revised their earnings expectations upward.
The investment bank noted that Alphabet has become "one of the most debated stocks" in its coverage universe, with recent investor discussions focusing on the upcoming judicial decision regarding remedies in the search commercial agreement case.
JPMorgan expects the judge’s decision to be announced by August 8, though it acknowledged that "the exact nature and financial implications of the remedy remain difficult to predict."
The firm believes this uncertainty explains the relatively muted reaction in Alphabet shares following its second-quarter earnings report, with the stock rising just 1% compared to a flat S&P 500.
Despite the legal overhang, JPMorgan characterized Alphabet’s recent quarterly performance as "a defining quarter" for the company, reinforcing its continued bullish stance on the stock.
In other recent news, Alphabet’s second-quarter results demonstrated solid performance across its Search, YouTube, and Cloud services, prompting Truist Securities to raise its stock price target from $200.00 to $225.00 while maintaining a Buy rating. The firm cited Alphabet’s strong execution despite rising AI competition and macroeconomic uncertainties. Additionally, JMP Securities reiterated its Market Outperform rating for Alphabet, maintaining a $225.00 price target, following the release of Google’s Web Guide as a Search Labs experiment. This initiative is seen as a potential evolution of Google’s search capabilities.
In regulatory developments, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded its 14-month investigation into Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving vehicles without taking further action. The probe, which began in May 2024, investigated reports of traffic safety violations and unexpected behavior by Waymo’s robotaxis, including 17 collisions. Furthermore, Google has entered a new partnership with Energy Dome to globally deploy long-duration energy storage technology, marking its first venture into this clean energy sector. The collaboration involves both a commercial partnership and an investment in Energy Dome, though financial details were not disclosed.
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